Fight after East-Jefferson basketball game 'does not define' Rockford School District

Wednesday

Mar 5, 2014 at 6:10 PMMar 5, 2014 at 10:03 PM

By Matt TrowbridgeRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - The East-Jefferson basketball melee Tuesday was declared both "unacceptable" and a "very rare occurrence" by District 205 director of athletics Mat Parker.

"This goes against everything that is taught and preached to our student-athletes," Parker said at a news conference Wednesday. "It goes against the behavior we see every day in our classrooms and at practice and the basketball courts and the playing fields."

Parker confirmed that the fight after Jefferson's last-second 51-49 Class 4A regional semifinal victory at Belvidere North had started in the handshake line. He also said reviews of four different videos and 40 interviews Wednesday morning made it clear who started the fight, but he would not "comment on specifics."

Parker did say no drastic policy changes would be enacted, as they were after a fight in the stands at a Friday night football game in 1991 led to 11 home games by Rockford Public School teams being held on Saturday afternoons in 1992.

"We all make mistakes in our lives," Parker said. "We see situations like this not just in college but in the pros. People make poor decisions. I'm not worried about the direction we're going. We're going in a very positive direction, but we're human beings and no one is perfect."

Players and students who participated could be suspended for up to three days by the Rockford School District, though. Parker said District 205 sent videos and reports from both East and Jefferson to the Illinois High School Association. He said the IHSA should announce any possible suspensions by this morning, and Rockford officials would not comment until after the IHSA rules. The J-Hawks (18-12) play No. 1 seed Huntley in the regional final 7 p.m. Friday at Belvidere North. The IHSA could, however, force Jefferson to forfeit the game.

When the fight broke out, both teams rushed onto the court followed by fans. Coaches also joined the skirmish but only in an effort to stop it. East head coach Roy Sackmaster and Jefferson coach Todd Brannan both tried to pull their own players out of the fray.

"Roy and I were just worried about the safety of the kids and were trying to keep anyone from being seriously hurt," Brannan said. "His assistant coaches were out there and mine were too trying to keep it under control."

"The coaches," Parker said, "made every attempt to stop the situation."

Officers from the Boone County Sheriff's Department and Belvidere Police Department responded. No arrests were made, and no injuries were reported. No police officers were on duty at Tuesday's game, but four will be in the gym Friday.

Jefferson and East coaches worried after the game about the lasting damage to the reputation of the Rockford School District.

"If this happened 10 years ago," East's Sackmaster said, "it would be, 'Well, that's the Rockford School District. That's what it's all about.' But it's not like that."

"We're worried about the reputation and how long it will take to repair that," Jefferson's Brannan said. "It's just unfortunate."

But, Parker insisted, it's not indicative of the atmosphere in Rockford schools. He pointed to Auburn's incident-free win over Boylan in a sold-out gym Friday as evidence that District 205 athletes normally "make the right choices even in high-pressure situations."

"This incident does not define or depict what is occurring in Rockford public schools a large majority of the time," Parker said. "We are very, very sorry that this incident occurred, as it does not exemplify the direction we're going and what occurs 99.9 percent of the time."